


two point five

by Spikedluv



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: smallfandomfest, Community: trope_bingo, Established Relationship, Future Fic, Kid Fic, Mostly Fluff, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 08:39:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11619963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spikedluv/pseuds/Spikedluv
Summary: Both Jude and Zero have a soft spot for Lionel’s daughter, but Zero also has a bit of a misconception about her.





	two point five

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place five years in a future where Lionel didn’t lose her baby.
> 
> Written for Round 21 of Small Fandom Fest [on LJ](http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/) | [on DW](http://smallfandomfest.dreamwidth.org/) for the prompt: _Hit the Floor, Jude/Zero & Lionel, Lionel didn’t lose the baby_. 
> 
> Also using this to fill the _Future Fic_ square on my card for Round 9 of [Trope Bingo on DW](http://trope_bingo.dreamwidth.org).
> 
>  **Warning:** Mention of a child with an allergy in case that triggers you.
> 
> Written: July 26, 2017

Jude readjusted the waistband of his swim trunks as he headed for the front door. The bell rang again before he reached it, which made him speed up. Jude pulled the door open just as Elizabeth reached for the doorbell a third time.

“Good afternoon, Miss Elizabeth!” Jude said.

“Hi, Uncle Jude!” Elizabeth said.

Jude stepped back and Elizabeth immediately slipped past him and surveyed the area she could see from the foyer. “Is Uncle Gideon here?”

“He’s around here somewhere,” Jude said cagily.

Lionel raised an eyebrow as she stepped into the house behind Elizabeth.

“Hello, Lionel,” Jude said, ignoring the look. He pressed a kiss to Lionel’s cheek and closed the door behind her, hoping she’d forget her suspicions.

“Uncle Gideon!” Elizabeth yelled, causing Lionel to roll her eyes and say, “Inside voice, Lizzie.” 

“Hey, peanut,” Zero said.

Jude turned carefully to find Zero, thankfully dressed in board shorts, a loose tank top, and flip flops, swinging Elizabeth around.

Jude and Lionel both winced when Elizabeth squealed in delight, but Jude couldn’t help smiling at the sight of the two of them. Jude’s heard did a crazy dance inside his chest when he witnessed how much Zero and Elizabeth cared for each other.

“Can we play basketball?” Elizabeth said.

“I was hoping you’d want to,” Zero said. “Did you say hi to Uncle Jude?”

Elizabeth hesitated, then said, “Yes?”

“You know the rules,” Zero said as he bent down and set Elizabeth on her feet.

Elizabeth looked so much like Lionel when she rolled her eyes that Jude had to bite back a smile. “There are rules?” he said, unaware of what Zero was talking about.

Zero crossed his arms, but his eyes twinkled and the corners of his lips twitched.

“I can’t forget to be nice to Uncle Jude just because I’m excited to play,” Elizabeth said with a put upon sigh.

“Wait,” Jude said, looking at Zero with panic. “I don’t want to be a _rule_ , or force her to hug me, or whatever.”

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth said resignedly. “Uncle Gideon says I sometimes have a one-track mind like mom . . .”

“Hey!” Lionel said.

“ . . . and I have to be reminded to be polite.”

“And hey again!”

“Besides,” Elizabeth said, “if I forget to be nice to Uncle Jude, Uncle Gideon _will_ be.” She gave both Jude and Lionel a look. “We’d have to watch them kiss.”

“Euww, gross,” Lionel said.

“I know, right?” Elizabeth said. “It’s almost as bad as when you kissed Howie.”

“His name was Howard,” Lionel corrected, “and how do you know? You were supposed to be in bed.”

Elizabeth gave Lionel a look, then walked over to stand in front of Jude. She looked up at Jude and raised her arms. Jude went to his knees.

“You don’t have to hug me if you don’t want to,” Jude said.

“It’s okay,” Elizabeth said. “I need to learn patience.” She gave Jude a look that clearly said she wanted nothing to do with patience.

“Okay,” Jude said, opening his arms. Jude wrapped his arms around Elizabeth when she stepped into them, and hid his face from Zero when her little arms went around his neck. He raised one hand and brushed it down the back of her head.

“Thank you for inviting me over to swim, Uncle Jude,” Elizabeth said very formally.

“You’re welcome, Lizzie. We love having you over.”

Jude reluctantly released Elizabeth. With one hand still on Jude’s shoulder she looked at Zero. “Can we play now?”

Zero held out his hand and Elizabeth immediately skipped over to take it. He gave Jude a warm look over Elizabeth’s head, then turned to lead her through the house to the backyard. 

Jude stood up and cleared his throat. “So,” he said, “Howard?”

“You know she loves you,” Lionel said.

“I know,” Jude said. He shrugged. “It’s okay. I’d rather play with Gideon, too.” Jude’s cheeks went hot when he realized what he’d said.

Instead of teasing him, Lionel said, “Gross,” and they both laughed.

They stopped in the kitchen for the pitcher of water Jude had made up that morning with slices of lemon and lime, then followed Zero and Elizabeth out to the back yard. Jude set the pitcher and cups (both plastic, as they’d learned a hard lesson one visit) on a table on the covered patio.

Jude’s heart did that funny thing when he saw Zero and Elizabeth in front of the tiny basketball hoop they’d bought for her to play with when she visited. Zero was on his knees, baseball cap on backwards, giving Elizabeth instruction. Elizabeth nodded, then threw the ball. She missed the hoop by a mile, but Zero gave her a high-five anyway and said something about her strength before retrieving the ball for her to try again.

“He’s good with her,” Lionel said.

Jude looked away and busied himself with pouring water over two glasses of ice. “Yes.” Lionel took the glass Jude handed her, but she refused to let him look away.

“You are, too.”

Jude nodded. “I know.” He picked up the other glass. “Thank you.”

Lionel took a sip of water, then set the glass down to rummage through the over-sized pink bag she’d brought. “I need you to put sunscreen on my back,” she said.

Once Lionel was covered with sunscreen to her satisfaction they left the cover of the patio and went out to sit in loungers beside the pool. Jude looked like a bum beside Lionel with her wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses, and the flowered sarong around her waist, but since it was his backyard and no one was looking he just spread out on the lounge chair and watched Zero and Elizabeth.

After a few minutes, Lionel looked at Jude. “We got the tests back from the doctor,” she said.

Jude sat up straight and gave Lionel his full attention. “Is she alright?”

“She’s fine,” Lionel assured Jude. “And she’s going to be fine. Nothing a little lifestyle change won’t cure.”

Jude reached out and Lionel took his hand.

“She’s got a sensitivity to gluten.”

“Oh my god,” Jude said. “What, what is that?”

Lionel laughed. “Oh, Jude,” she said. “Thank you. I needed that. I’ve been so worried,” Lionel said after she’d composed herself. “And now I’m so relieved that it’s something I can do something about . . .” She took a deep breath.

Lionel explained what gluten was, and what she needed to do to make sure that Elizabeth wasn’t exposed to it. “There’s so much information online now,” she said, “and tons of recipes, and lots of products available in the stores. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to be easier than it could’ve been.”

“What do we need to do?” Jude said, because Lionel and Elizabeth were frequent visitors to their home.

Lionel managed to give Jude a quick lesson on reading product labels before Zero and Elizabeth came over.

“I’m thirsty,” Elizabeth announced as she draped herself over her mother.

“I’m not surprised,” Lionel said, getting up before Jude could. “You’ve been playing pretty hard.”

Jude smiled to himself as Elizabeth gave Lionel a play-by-play of her time with Zero. He turned his smile onto Zero when he squatted beside Jude’s chair.

“What’s wrong?” Zero said.

Jude shook his head. “Nothing. Lionel got the tests back. It’s okay,” he assured Zero. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?”

Zero glanced behind Jude to the patio. “Okay.” He leaned in and gave Jude a kiss.

Elizabeth plopped herself on the edge of Lionel’s lounge chair and waited for them to acknowledge her. “Can we go swimming?”

“Sure,” Jude and Zero said at the same time. They grinned at each other and Jude got another kiss.

“We need to reapply your sunscreen,” Lionel said.

“Okay,” Elizabeth said, agreeable since swimming was in her near future. She stood, turned, and plopped down on the edge of Jude’s chair. “Uncle Jude can do it.” Elizabeth took the bottle from Lionel and handed it to Jude over her shoulder.

Jude took the sunscreen and leaned forward. Elizabeth sat still and sipped water through the curly straw Zero had bought for her as Jude applied the sunscreen to her arms and shoulders. “There, all done.”

Elizabeth stood and imperiously handed her cup to Lionel. She ran in place and waited for one of them to remind her that there was no running around the pool. Zero did it with the raise of one eyebrow. Elizabeth giggled and started walking with sedately towards the pool.

Zero waited until Elizabeth’s back was turned to kick off his flip flips, toss his cap aside and skin out of his tank top. Three wide steps took him to Elizabeth’s side. He grabbed her up in his arms and jumped into the pool with a large splash. Jude grinned at the sound of Elizabeth’s squeal and Zero’s laughter.

“Now we know why they get along so well,” Lionel said, drying the water drops off her sunglasses with a corner of the sarong. “Because he’s still a kid himself.”

Jude recalled the childhood that had been stolen from Zero along with the sister he hadn’t seen in years. “Yeah,” he said.

An hour later, after snacking on a fresh fruit salad and chunks of cheese (Lionel checked the label and assured Jude it was fine), Elizabeth was asleep on a chaise lounge on the patio out of the sun, and Lionel had told Zero about her gluten sensitivity. Zero asked her some questions, and even though she’d already given some of the same information to Jude, Lionel answered him patiently and thoroughly. Elizabeth’s health was at stake, and it was important for both of them to know what she needed.

Zero convinced Lionel to stay for supper, which was chicken on the grill and a tossed salad. Lionel checked the marinade and the salad dressing to make sure Elizabeth could have it. While Elizabeth helped Zero with the chicken, Jude and Lionel sliced vegetables in the kitchen.

Over supper Lionel commented that she needed to have a blood test for gluten sensitivity, as well. “It’s hereditary,” she said when Zero paused in his game of ‘how many slices of cucumber can you fit in your mouth’ with Elizabeth to stare at her. “I might’ve passed it on to her,” she said with a small dose of self-recrimination.

After Lionel and Elizabeth had left for home, and they’d done the dishes, Jude started going through the cupboards, pulling out boxes of crackers and bags of chips, checking the labels. Most of the boxes went into the discard pile. While he was doing that, Zero sat at the counter on the laptop.

“Some people are so sensitive to gluten that they can’t even kiss someone who’s recently eaten gluten,” Zero said at one point, and later, “We need to get rid of all our wooden kitchen stuff, bowls, spoons, cutting boards.”

Jude finished adding most of their cereal, including Quaker Oats, which surprised him, into the discard pile, then stepped up behind Zero and read the screen over his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Zero and rested his chin on Zero’s shoulder.

“How many of these sites have you bookmarked?”

“I don’t know,” Zero said. “A dozen? It’s just . . . she’s only five-years old.”

Jude kissed the side of Zero’s neck. “I know. On the plus side she’s young enough that changing her diet will be easier than if she had thirty years of bad eating habits behind her. It’s really great that you’re doing this research. You’re the best uncle ever,” Jude said.

“Yeah,” Zero said, going stiff.

“What is it?” Jude said, not releasing Zero.

“You should get tested,” Zero said.

“For what?” Jude said.

Zero gave Jude a look, like he was being deliberately obtuse. “For gluten sensitivity.”

“Why?”

“Lionel’s getting tested. She said it was hereditary.”

“Okay,” Jude said. “Still not sure why you . . .”

The corner of Zero’s jaw clenched.

“Wait. Gideon.”

Zero ducked his head and refused to look at Jude.

“Gideon, do you think I’m Lizzie’s father?”

“Aren’t you?” Zero said.

“What? Gideon, why would you . . . ?”

“It didn’t seem like a stretch,” Zero said. He finally turned to look at Jude. “Are you saying that you’re not?”

“I’m not,” Jude said. “Seriously, what made you think that?”

Zero shrugged. “You and Lionel were close, you attended that movie premiere with her, and we weren’t exclusive at the time, then suddenly Lionel ends up pregnant and says the baby is Oscar’s? I don’t know anyone who believed she slept with Oscar. The two of you are pretty close.”

“Me and . . . ?”

“Lizzie,” Zero said. “You’re the only one she’ll let tuck her in and read to her when she stays over.”

“She only wants to play with you!” Jude said. “Of course I love her. Because she’s Lionel’s, because she’s . . . herself. But not because she’s mine.”

“I wouldn’t have blamed you,” Zero said.

“I would have told you,” Jude said. “I swear, if anything like that had happened, I would’ve told you. I can’t believe you’ve thought that all this time.”

Zero huffed. “She even looks like you.”

“She looks like a miniature Lionel,” Jude said.

Zero shook his head. “She has your eyes.”

“She has somebody’s eyes, but they’re not mine,” Jude said. “Is that why you’re so patient with her?” he asked carefully.

“Are you asking if I only love her because I thought she was your daughter?” Zero said.

Jude squirmed. Before he had to answer, Zero continued.

“Maybe, at first,” Zero admitted. “When I found out Lionel was pregnant I was pretty jealous.”

“Because you thought I’d slept with her?”

“Because I couldn’t give you that,” Zero said. “I mean, I didn’t even know if you wanted kids, but I knew we couldn’t do it the old fashioned way if you did. And I hated her a little bit, that she could give you that. Does that make me a horrible person?”

“It makes you human,” Jude said. “What about Lizzie?”

“When she was born I steeled myself,” Zero said. “To hold her, to coo over her and tell Lionel how beautiful she was, how perfect, and then . . .”

“And then?”

“And then I met her,” Zero said. “And she was beautiful, and she was perfect. I don’t know how she did it, but she stole my heart. I thought it was because I saw you in her.”

Jude laid his hand against the side of Zero’s face and touched their foreheads together. “It was because you have a big heart, even though you like to hide it.”

Zero snorted, but Jude ignored him. “I know it, Lionel knows it, and Lizzie knows it, which is why she likes you best.”

“She doesn’t like me best,” Zero said, exasperated.

“It’s okay,” Jude said. “Like I told Lionel, I’d rather play with you, too.”

Zero raised his eyebrow.

“Oddly enough, that’s the same look Lionel gave me,” Jude said.

Zero snorted. “Jude.”

“I love you, Gideon,” Jude said. “Remember when I told you that you were the best thing that had ever happened to me?” Jude waited for Zero’s nod before he continued. “Everyday with you I feel that even more strongly.”

“Me, too, stupid,” Zero said softly.

Jude smiled. “Why don’t we go to bed. And tomorrow we can talk about adoption. If you want to. Lizzie could use a cousin to play with.”

Jude waited while Zero powered down the laptop. Hand-in-hand they double-checked locks and turned out lights on their way to the master suite that took up half of the second floor.

“You’re not gonna tell Lionel, are you?” Zero said.

“That you love her daughter even though you thought she and I slept together?” Jude said. “No. Lionel knows you’re a sap when it comes to Lizzie; it doesn’t matter how that happened.”

“I’m not a sap,” Zero said, but Jude heard the ‘thank you.”

“You’re a total sap,” Jude said, giggling when Zero pushed him down onto the bed fully clothed.

“You take that back,” Zero said.

“Make me,” Jude said.

Zero kissed Jude breathless. When they broke for air he quickly removed his shorts, then divested Jude of his. Jude had never been so thankful for a hot summer day that meant fewer clothes. They laid on their sides in the middle of the bed, arms around each other, moving together in unhurried thrusts and sharing soft, gentle kisses. Arousal slowly built between them, causing their hips to move faster, their kisses to deepen.

Zero’s hand moved lower on Jude’s back, urging them closer. Jude was hyper-aware of every point of contact between them, his nipples rubbing against Zero’s chest, the tips of his fingers on Zero’s back, the heel of his foot digging into Zero’s calf. Heat spread throughout Jude’s body and his limbs felt heavy. Their kisses went sloppy, the rhythm of their hips faltered.

Jude’s body went taut and his orgasm crashed over him in wave after wave of pleasure, leaving him drained and lethargic. He felt Zero’s body tense against him, but Jude could do nothing about it. For a long moment they lay unmoving, panting for air and letting their muscles recover. When Jude could move again he touched his hand to Zero’s face.

“So, you want kids,” Jude said.

Zero shrugged. “Don’t make a thing out of it.”

“I love you, Gideon,” Jude said. “If something’s important to you, it’s important to me.”

Zero let that sink in, then shrugged. “I didn’t think we were ready.”

“Maybe we weren’t,” Jude said. “Maybe we are now.”

“Yeah?”

Jude shrugged. “You’ve already given me the white picket fence, maybe now it’s time for the 2.5.”

“You want two?”

“Point five.”

“That’s gonna be awkward.”

Jude laughed, as he was supposed to, and some of the tension lifted.

“You really think we can do it?” Zero said.

“I think we can do anything we set our minds to, and I’ve seen you with Lizzie; you’d be a great dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Stupid.”

Zero tried to contain his smile, but he couldn’t. Jude watched the emotions play over his face, some of the very same emotions that had played over his face on the day Lizzie had been born at the moment Jude had first placed her in Zero’s arms. He’d been a gonner; they both had. Aside from Jude, and now Lionel and Lizzie, Zero still hid so much of himself behind a wall, but he had so much love to give.

“A girl, or a boy?” Jude said.

“I don’t care,” Zero said, “they just . . . I don’t care. They don’t even have to like basketball.”

“Bite your tongue,” Jude said.

Zero smirked. “You bite it.”

“Ready for round two already?” Jude teased.

“We need to get as much sex in as we can now,” Zero said. “I hear that kids interfere with your love life.”

“Likely excuse,” Jude said. He kissed Zero, and when Zero slipped his tongue into Jude’s mouth, bit it.

The End

**Author's Note:**

> For writing updates and Zude reblogs, follow me on Tumblr, where I’m [Spikedluv](http://spikedluv.tumblr.com/). Additionally, I’ve created a Zude-specific community on DW: [Team Zude](http://team-zude.dreamwidth.org/).


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